Monthly Archives: July 2015

Fifteen-year-old Grace Clark teaches New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison how to write his first line of code. Official NOPD courtesy photo by Tyler Gamble

In response to President Barack Obama’s 21st Century Task Force on Policing, youth from New Orleans recently took park in a three-day event that engaged them and others “to build apps on top of soon-to-be released policing data sets” according to an e-blast from Denice Ross, a Presidential Innovation Fellow, who is co-leading the White House Police Data Initiative.

Read more here about the “group of 15 young coders and their tech mentors” at the event hosted by the nonprofit Operation Spark “where local law enforcement agencies from New Orleans worked with the youth to produce coding data on policing “as a means to build community trust,”on July 13–15, 2015.

U.S. President Barack Obama at NAACP Convention in Philadelphia on July 14, 2015.

Barack Obama made history recently, when he became the first U.S. President to visit a federal prison.

He went to a medium-security lockup in El Reno, Oklahoma,“to shine a spotlight”on his criminal justice reform efforts that include reform “in the cell block” according to remarks he made two days earlier at the NAACP’s 106th national convention in Philadelphia, Pa. on July 14, 2015.Continue reading →

“Our nation is being robbed of men and women who could be workers and taxpayers, could be more actively involved in their children’s lives, could be role models, could be community leaders, and right now they’re locked up for a non-violent offense.” All because, “our criminal justice system isn’t as smart as it should be” according to President Barack Obama in remarks he made in his address at the NAACP’s 106th national convention on July 14, 2015.

And the he added that “mass incarceration makes our entire country worse off, and we need to do something about it.

Listen to his full remarks in this White House video of him “outlining the unfairness in much of our criminal justice system, and highlighting ideas of reform, the reasons why we need to reform America’s criminal justice system, and why we need to invest in our communities and expand opportunity for all Americans while keeping Americans safe and secure.”

In his continuing effort of granting clemency to nonviolent drug offenders President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 46 men and women, “nearly all of whom would have already served their time and returned to society if they were convicted of the exact same crime today,” according to his press release on July 13, 2015.

In a White House video released that day, Obama said that as a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and criminal defense attorney, he is”well acquainted with how federal sentencing practices” have created in too many instances“unduly harsh sentences” that have lead nonviolent drug offenders to spend decades, if not life, in prison.

And he added that “many people are justly punished for causing harm and perpetuating violence in our communities. But, in some cases, the punishment required by law far exceeded the offense.”

These unduly harsh sentences are one of the reasons the President said he is “committed to using all the tools at his disposal to remedy unfairness in our criminal justice system.”

Like this:

A Journalist View of Drug War Impact on Public Housing Communities

Mary C. Piemonte talking about federal drug-related rules and regulations for public houisng tenants across the country at Northwestern Law School on Feb. 21, 2014.

A Heated Debate on the U.S Drug War

Ethan Nadelman Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance debating with former DEA administrator Peter Bensinger about whether to legalize drugs or not at Northwestern University Law School on Feb. 20, 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

How Other Countries Deal with Drug Use

Franz Trautmann, head of the Unit International Affairs of the Trimbos Institute talking about how European countries deal with illegal drugs activities during the "Rethinking the War on Drugs" symposium at Northwestern University Law School Feb. 21, 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Raw Footage of the Restorative Justice Event at the Adler School of Psychology

Participants at the restorative justice event at the Adler School of Psychology on Jan 28 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

My Published Reports on the National War on Drugs for Northwestern Univerisity Medill School of Jouralism Soical Justice Nexus News Fellowship

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin from Illinois speaks at a recent conference on reforming the War on Drugs. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte.

My News Video Production of Gary Mayor talking about Drug Courts

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson speaking at a symposium on the War on Drugs at Northwestern Law School in mid-February 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte.

My News Video Production of a Federal Prosecutor’s Report on Chicago Crime

U.S Attorney Zachary Fardon talking about Chicago crime during a symposium at Northwestern University Law School in mid February 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

My Raw Video Footage of Toni Preckwinkle on “Racial” Disparities in Cook County Justice System

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle talking about the racial composition and the inequalities committed against the majority of African American and Latino prisoners awaiting or serving sentences at the County Jail on Jan. 13, 2014. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte